The Tributes of District 11
by Dawn Bently
Summary: To him, her eyes shone so brightly that the shiny Capitol skyline in the window behind her seemed a little duller in comparison. All the windows and lights in the world couldn't hold a candle to that girl, he was sure.


**It always seems to take a movie to motivate me to write something. Nonetheless, this is just a little scene I've always imagined when I read the books. Feel free to leave your thoughts! They're always appreciated. **

* * *

><p>To him, her eyes shone so brightly that the shiny Capitol skyline in the window behind her seemed a little duller in comparison. All the windows and lights in the world couldn't hold a candle to that girl, he was sure. It was so painfully clear that everybody on this earth has a time limit and it had no yet donned on her that hers was approaching far too quickly. It was a thought that had haunted him everyday since the Reaping, which now felt like years ago. Undoubtedly everyone on their collective teams knew this as well. Hell, everyone on all the other teams knew it. But Rue was still blissfully unaware, quite possibly the best gift fate has given her thus far into the seventy-fourth annual Death Games, as he liked to call them.<p>

"Isn't it pretty?" her sweet childish voice asked, and the brightness of her eyes spread down to her smile as well.

"Yes," he answered quickly, the rough harshness of his voice not at all off-putting to her as it was to virtually everyone else.

"Do you think there'll be trees in the arena?" she replied, their conversation shifting from the view to their eminent deaths so seamlessly that Thresh almost forgot to answer her. When he came back to the preset, little Rue had turned her back to him to look out the window again. She stood on her toes, her fingers curled around the window seal to hold herself up high enough to look out the window.

"Yes, there's almost always trees," he answered her. He remained standing exactly where he was, appearing much larger than he was since Rue was the nearest person to him. She often was. It seemed even his own team was afraid of him, which might have been comforting if they didn't look so ridiculous that he couldn't even trust their judgment.

"Were you thinking about her?" Rue asked without looking back at him. In the reflection of the glass, Thresh could make out the whites of her eyes shifting as her eyes followed something outside. He couldn't tell what it was, but chances were Rue's observant little eyes could see something he could not.

"Who?"

"Your girlfriend."

Through the reflection, she must've seen the shock that crossed his face so quickly that he'd been unable to stop it since she turned back to look at him. By then, he'd straightened out his expression, but he knew it was too late to hide it from her. At the very least he could hope to not pull any attention from their mentors or anybody else.

"She's pretty," Rue finally said when Thresh said nothing.

"She's from the inner city," Thresh decided on telling her. What good would it do him to lie to a little girl.

"Rich, then?"

"Better off than us."

"Do you miss her?"

"How did you know about her?" he replied instead of answering her question. It wasn't as though she needed an answer anyway. Of course, he missed her, and surely even the heart of a twelve year old girl could see that.

"I heard someone else go into your room to say goodbye after your family left and when we got into the car to take us to the train you smelled like a girl," she explained simply as though anybody could put those pieces together. Because to Rue, those noises and smells obviously meant he had a girlfriend, and that forced a smile out of hardened Thresh.

"Right, then," Thresh said simply as he nodded. He had nothing else to say about her. They were done now, perhaps not on the terms he'd have liked, but done all the same. Relationships generally don't last beyond the grave.

Rather than return her gaze to the window, Rue kept staring up at Thresh like she was expecting him to do or say something. Since had nothing further to say, yet did not yet want to walk away, he just stared back at her. Her smile remained there, plastered across her lips, and it was almost maddening to him. It was that moment he realized it was just heart breaking. It was the first crack of what would become his shatter heart. Maybe the second. Leaving behind his family and his girl had been the first. Looking up to see Rue's bright smile in the darkened sky in the arena, putting shame to all those stars that will undoubtedly be there as well, will shatter his heart. It hasn't happened yet, but he's already accepted that piece of his fate. His fate to die with a broken heart.

Then, his thoughts move on. In his heart break, he'll muster enough strength and vengeance to kill whoever dares lay a finger on this little girl. Because that's exactly what she is. A little girl. A girl far too young to die. A girl who was not as lucky as the one from District 12. For half a second, he let himself feel for the female tribute of District 12, feel connected to her, feel thankful that at least one other soul in this entire world feels just a little bit of what he does. And then remembering his fate to die with a broken heart, he remembered that girl's fate to die as well and the moment passes as quickly as it came. He can't be connected to anybody else in the arena except Rue. He shouldn't even be connected to her, but he knows it can't be helped.

"Look at all the desserts, Thresh," Rue says suddenly and he realized her eyes had shifted from him to the table behind him and to the side. Peering over his shoulder, he eyed all the plates and serving dishes holding sweets, pastries, and any number of other fancy desserts. Rue went to the table so quickly that for half a second he thinks that maybe Rue might simply outlast all the others. She's too quick to catch and too little to follow all the time. That glimmer of hope, too, is gone as quickly as it came. He wanted to save the heart break for the arena, for when the evitable happens, but again, he began to accept his fate that maybe his heartbreak is destined to come a bit sooner than he'd like.


End file.
